Local Fishing Report

Eddie Ritz

Wednesday

Sep 12, 2018 at 12:01 AMSep 12, 2018 at 9:02 PM

OFFSHORE FISHING

Off Jensen Beach, the vermilion snapper bite has been great. One charter captain said on a recent trip all six of his guests caught their limit while working a few of the reefs and wrecks in 70 to 140 feet of water.

There also have been a few king mackerel caught in 60 to 100 feet.

Off Jupiter, there has been an excellent weed line in around 600 feet. It’s extremely prominent and in addition to sargassum, it has included tree limbs and pretty much everything else. This has been the hot spot for dolphin fishing. Not schoolies or peanuts, fish up to 20 pounds are being caught.

For anglers fishing off the Boynton Beach area, the yellowtail snapper fishing has been excellent. The bite off the Lake Worth Pier, horseshoe reef and Sloan’s Curve has been "on fire." They are hitting on half-cut sardines and squid strips in 50 to 95 feet.

There have been cero mackerel mixed in with the yellowtail and they are being caught on half-cut sardines and various jigs.

Though they are a bit scattered, king mackerel up to 25 pounds are being taken on drifted sardines in 75 to 110 feet.

Off the south Delray Beach area, mangrove snapper up to five pounds, dog snapper up to 12 pounds and mutton snapper up to 10 pounds are being caught on whole sardines spooled along the bottom in 105 feet.

Grunts and smaller fish are hitting cut squid around the reef.

INSHORE FISHING

At the St. Lucie Inlet, the Stuart and Jensen causeways and the docks along the rivers, the snook bite has been "red hot" the past week. One captain said during a recent charter, fishing at dusk, they had 80 bites, caught 40 fish and kept several slot-size keepers. Though live pilchards and greenies are working well, artificial baits including Flare Hawks and top-water plugs are also producing good results.

In the evenings, anglers working the dock lights on the east side of the river are catching trout and redfish.

Along the beaches in Jupiter, it’s still game on for snook. Schools of finger mullet are moving through, and working them with artificial baits has been producing excellent results. On Wednesday morning, a shop owner fishing the inlet said there were six caught that were over 32 inches. There were plenty of keepers as well.

At the Juno Pier, they are catching bluefish, Spanish mackerel and pompano.

With the large swells forecast for the next day or so due to Hurricane Florence, the pier can get anglers out beyond the breaking waves and, at 1,000 feet long, into many different species of fish.

Boynton Inlet anglers have been catching mangrove snapper, snook, tarpon, permit and moonfish. Night time has been best for the moonfish, tarpon and permit. Live mullet and pinfish have been the bait of choice for snook during the day and jigs bounced along the bottom at night.

The early morning bass bite has been excellent recently along the southeast section of King’s Bar. Anglers working the edges of the Kissimmee grass and using swim jigs and spinner baits are having a blast. By mid-morning, the bite has moved over to the buggy whips where switching over to creature baits including Gambler Why Nots and Zoom Brush Hogs has been productive.

As the water has begun to cool down a bit, the speckled perch bite has picked up. Anglers are having good luck deep trolling minnows in the Kissimmee River.